


Edge

by Kaini



Series: Cryptage [1]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Anyway they're boyfriends, Hurt/Comfort, I DONT MAKE THE RULES, M/M, Stranded, Thanks, awkward about also being into guys, cryptage - Freeform, crypto is gay, is that what the kids are calling it, mirage is bi/pan hes just
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:54:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25100479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaini/pseuds/Kaini
Summary: Mirage and Crypto are stranded in the World's Edge arena after a duos championship, alone. It goes about as well as anyone would expect.
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Mirage | Elliott Witt
Series: Cryptage [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1836634
Comments: 10
Kudos: 179





	Edge

**Author's Note:**

> Hi yes I know nothing about Titanfall so pardon if there's some in-universe explanation for how they don't all kill each other participating in blood sport I don't know it! Use your imagination :) All I know is these two are painfully gay for each other and this is my headcanon for how that happens thanks bye

**_We have our Apex Champions!_ **

“Aw yeah, Mirage and Crypto, duos champions! High five!” 

Mirage held up a hand, and Crypto just stared at him, his hands in his pockets. Like usual, whatever. Not like he’d been expecting any different. Paranoid weirdo. 

“So, hey, you think they’ll come pick us up soon, throw a little confetti, maybe start filming our victory speech…” 

Crypto was still just giving him that look, so Mirage quit talking. Which was quite the feat for him. 

“I don’t know. I’ve never won before.” Crypto shrugged.

Oh, right. New kid on the block. 

“Well, I’ve won plenty of times. And it’s pretty great.” 

Crypto rolled his eyes, like he doubted it, looking away. Which again - par for the course. It didn’t bother him. Much. 

“So, uh…”

Huh. They should have at least seen the drop ship at this point. Usually they were pretty quick about whisking the winners up - after all, they had to move on to the next match, and there was an arena change coming up. 

“... Shouldn’t they be here by now?” Jesus, he was pretty sure Crypto could read his mind.

Wait, could he? He had all that technology in his head. Could he read minds…?

Crypto pulled the collar of his coat up a little higher, hiding his face behind it. It was cold around the epicenter, a stark contrast to the volcanic heat of the rest of the World’s Edge arena. 

“Dunno, I-”

Just as Mirage started talking, there was a loud _POP_ from the announcer system, both of them rushing to cover their ears for the metallic whine that followed. The nearest screen flickered too - and then went off; just straight black. 

“Uh…” Mirage looked at Crypto, slowly uncovering his ears. “... Did you do that?”

“No.”

He sounded almost offended. Really kinda offended. But it was definitely a Crypto thing to do. 

“Then, uh…”

The only sound was the wind as it kicked up snow around them, blowing past the large ice structures around the epicenter. “What do we do, just wait?”

“Yeah, they have our location.” Crypto tapped his wrist, his banner card. All Legends were tracked across the arena, ‘cuz the people at home had to keep up, and they had to be picked up when they were knocked out. 

So yeah, some kind of technical glitch, but the drop ship would still come to them, right?

Crypto suddenly walked away without a word, little shit, so Mirage followed him at a slow jog, into the central structure of the epicenter. Out of the wind, at least. 

Mirage put his back to the wall just inside the door, listening for footsteps on instinct until he remembered they’d already won. Huh. He wasn’t used to running around the arena without other Legends on his tail. 

“... I’m sending out my drone.” Crypto murmured after a few minutes of awkward silence, listening to the wind. He tossed it out and let it fly off, pulling open the little virtual control he carried. He always looked so focused when he was flying the drone; it was kinda cute. 

Or, not cute but - whatever. 

“See anything?” Mirage asked, and got an irritated little look, just a moment before Crypto re-focused on the HUD in front of his face. 

“... No. All the screens are dark, and I don’t see the ship. It usually waits offshore…” 

“Wait, you mean it’s not even out there? Do you think they left without us?” They were supposed to be headed back to Solace after this match, to King’s Canyon. 

“You think they really left without two Legends?” Crypto snapped, irritation in his tone, but Mirage could pick up the genuine worry there too. 

Like, surely they wouldn’t… just leave to famous Legends on another planet while they fucked all the way back to Solace, right?

… Right?

The drone came flying back in through the door, and Crypto pocketed the remote just in time to snatch it out of the air and holster it. 

“So… what do we do?” He hoped he didn’t sound nervous. He was a little nervous. 

“Just wait.” Crypto huffed. “Some sort of technical glitch, I guess. When it’s sorted they’ll come for us.”

Okay, yeah. He could do that, just chill for a bit. “Yeah, it’s not like they can leave without us I guess. I mean, we are _Legends_.” 

Crypto ignored him, sitting down and crossing his legs, so Mirage followed suit. 

And… they waited. Mirage quickly got bored though, got up after just a few minutes and started goofing off with his decoys. He kinda hoped Crypto would watch, but… the guy didn’t even look up. Whatever. He did pull out the little remove and fidget with it, though. It resembled some sort of puzzle cube, so, maybe it had like… games built in or something. 

Mirage didn’t start to _actually_ worry until the sun creeped down. It was getting dark… 

“Sun’s going down…” Mirage said it as Crypto finally dragged himself up, stretching his legs after sitting on them. “You’d think they would have come for us by now…”

“I’ll go take a look.” Crypto murmured, tossing the drone out again. It whizzed by Mirage’s head before going out the door, and he could swear the kid did it on purpose. 

“... Everything’s still offline. No screens. I don’t hear anything either…”

Well, shit. “So…”

“We shouldn’t spend the night here, if we’re going to have to. Let’s head to Fragment West.” Crypto suggested. 

Probably a good idea, Epicenter was cold as fuck. The capital city area would at least be hospitable. 

“Alright, okay. At least I know this place like the back of my hand.” Mirage said as the drone came whizzing back. That earned him another skeptical look, which - hah. 

They totally did know the place, though - the more you had the terrain memorized the better you did in the games. He didn’t even need to pull up the map to start heading toward the former city, what was now known as Fragment West. Crypto was right behind him - the kid liked to bring up the rear, didn’t like having people at his back, because paranoia. Mirage was used to it at that point. 

So he led the way, sliding down the hill and leaping up over the outer wall to get into the city. He still caught himself listening for activity - it was so damn weird to think no one else was there, but he could swear he heard something. Or maybe he was turning into the paranoid one… 

“This way.” Crypto took the lead suddenly, and Mirage just kinda let him. They went up one of the buildings they’d taken cover in before, and he suddenly realized why - it had once been some kind of residential building; there were tiered beds set into the wall. So, a place they could rest for the night. 

“Never really thought I’d be spending a night in the arena, but…” Mirage said, conversationally as Crypto promptly claimed the lower bunk. Mirage climbed into the one above his head, because he’d always wanted top bunk as a kid. Being the youngest in a group of four brothers, he never used to get it. 

Crypto huffed; apparently he’d expected Mirage to take one of the others. Too bad, so sad. 

Mirage checked the banner card on his wrist again - still working, still broadcasting his location. Okie dokie. They’d probably get whatever glitch had happened sorted out and come for them in the night. Or in the morning. No problem, no big deal. 

He curled up facing the wall and promptly fell asleep - he could practically fall asleep anywhere, special talent. Had to be used to a shit ton of noise growing up with - yeah, brothers. 

He didn’t sleep super well, though. As evidenced by how damn early he woke up, when the sun was just beginning to peek up through the empty window. That they usually got shot at through. 

… Wait, sun? Fuck, that meant they hadn’t been found yet. 

Mirage slid off his bunk, completely forgetting Crypto was below him and promptly ending up in a choke-hold when the sound of his boots hitting the floor clearly startled the _shit_ out of the kid. 

“Whoa whoa hey, it’s me, _it’s me_!” He practically squeaked, and almost immediately Crypto let go. “Jeez, can you be any more paranoid?” 

For a split second, Crypto might have looked genuinely contrite, but then he was scowling again. 

“... they’re still not here for us.” He pointed out, and Mirage sighed. 

“Yea, no shit sherlock.” 

That got him another look, hah. Man, was he thirsty though. Some breakfast would have been sweet, but… not likely. “I’m gonna have a look around, I’m parched.” 

Crypto didn’t say anything, but he followed as Mirage jogged down the stairs and immediately spotted the aged vending machines lined up against the wall on the lower level. He giddily started looking for the lock, and caught Crypto raise an eyebrow. 

“... You know that’s all expired, right? This place has been abandoned for a while…?” 

“Bottled water, Crypto, last time I checked _water_ doesn’t expire.”

Mirage took the silence as encouragement, breaking open the machine with a triumphant whoop and grabbing at the lined up bottles. He tossed one to Crypto, then watched the kid examine it warily before popping it open. If it was good enough for him… 

Mirage opened his and chugged it. It was like, warm, of course but… water was water. 

He grabbed a few more bottles and shoved them in his backpack, tossing one more to Crypto as well. Crypto caught it without blinking, pocketed it. 

“Okay, so!” Mirage exclaimed, like he totally had a plan. “We… still haven’t been found, but good news is… we have the whole arena to ourselves!” 

“... And?” 

“And… all the best loot to ourselves, too! We should _totally_ head to over to trials and snatch up all the best shit-”

Crypto was giving him that look. That _‘you are literally the dumbest motherfucker on the planet’_ look. 

“ _Witt,_ you really want to run all the way out there and fight a bunch of prowlers for armor? For what? We don’t have any other Legends to worry about, and more, we don’t have access to medical care if we were to get hurt. We shouldn’t risk it.”

“Well… it’d be cool! We’d be so decked out-” 

Still getting that look. 

“... What about the train?” 

“Don’t be an idiot - we should stay put. If we start running around the arena alone, it makes it harder for them to find us and pick us up.”

“... Yeah, yeah, alright.” Mirage huffed. No fun allowed. It wasn’t like they didn’t fight prowlers all the time and come out just fine. 

Waiting around was really boring, though. They went up to the roof of the adjacent skyscraper so Crypto could send out his drone again, but Mirage got the feeling he was really just looking for something to do. And he didn’t find anything new; all arena tech still wasn’t working, no screens and no announcer, just the banner cards they had on them. 

They played target practice with Mirage’s decoys for a while - and that was kinda fun, helped keep them sharp. They still had their weapons from the match on them. 

When they went back to the other building for the night, though, Crypto stopped him on the second floor and pointed out the window, just outside the city. There was something… moving, out in the hills. Mirage spotted it instantly - he was so trained to pick up movement across the arena, which meant other Legends. 

Except whatever was moving out there wasn’t a Legend. 

“Prowler.” Crypto narrated for him. “They must come out a lot more when there aren’t Legends all over the place.”

“... Maybe we should barricade the doors before we sack out, huh?”

He thought Crypto would make some snarky comment, but the kid simply agreed, and they moved some of those heavy vending machines in front of the doors on the first floor before they went back up to go to bed. 

Night two in the arena. Really weird. The first night had been kinda fun, like camping out, but it was starting to get annoying now. He wanted to get back to the bar, back to his own bed. Or fuck, his couch on the drop ship would do just fine. 

He kept imagining his bed and the bar and the ship and that pretty quickly got him falling asleep, curled up close to the wall again.

-

The next morning, Crypto didn’t wake up to the sound of boots hitting the floor, like the previous. It was quiet, actually - too quiet. 

“... Witt?” 

He stood up, picking up his jump pack and drone to put it back on - of course he hadn’t slept with those on his back, like Mirage had. The other Legend had a strange ability to fall asleep in any situation, no matter how uncomfortable. He had to envy that, the way things were for them at present. 

When he looked up at the top bunk, though, Mirage wasn’t there. … Had he really left without Crypto hearing him? 

“Witt!” He called it down the stairs, but there was nothing - Mirage wasn’t in the building. 

“Idiot…” Crypto murmured under his breath as he headed down - one of the vending machines had been moved away from the door, so Mirage had left. Left without him, probably to run off and loot like he’d wanted to. Come back to brag he’d picked up all the gold loot by himself. 

Complete idiot. He was going to get himself killed, and then when the Syndicate came back for them, they’d blame Crypto - 

As soon as he stepped outside to start looking for the fool, the distinct sound of gunfire greeted him. He saw Mirage immediately when he turned his head in that direction - out in the hills, surrounded by Prowlers and shooting them down. 

There were more coming in, though, drawn by the sounds of the fight. Crypto could see them coming down the hill from above. 

“Shit.” Up to him to keep the idiot from getting killed, then. He checked his RE-45 and ran that way, shooting to get the Prowler’s attention off Mirage for a few seconds. He was doing a good job of keeping them distracted with decoys, but there were so many - 

As soon as he was close enough to actually land shots, he started taking them down. They weren't particularly robust creatures, but they were _fast,_ and pretty quickly he was having trouble keeping them all back at once. Mirage had a bit of high ground on a rock, but Crypto had nothing- 

Mirage shot his way a few times, trying to give him cover, but he had four trying to jump up to him and kept having to shoot them back. 

Not good. Very, very not good. 

Three came at Crypto at once. He downed two of them, but the third got close before he could shift his aim and- 

With one powerful swipe of its claws it sent him flying, his only instinct to hold onto his pistol for dear life. He hit the ground hard; pain bloomed across his shoulder to the back of his head, so sharp and biting he swore he blacked for a second.

Long enough for the prowler to appear above him, about to finish him, and it took everything he had to aim at it and fire. 

He must have landed a lucky shot, because it stopped coming, a dull _thump_ hitting the ground near him. 

Things were getting… fuzzy, though. He must have hit his head. The growls of the other prowlers sounded distant, and was that Witt yelling?

It sounded… so far away… 

-

“Crypto!”

Oh fuck, oh shit, he wasn’t getting up - 

Another Prowler was heading for him, but Mirage shot it with more surety in his aim than he’d ever had, like - ever. In fact it was a real pity no one saw that beautiful shot. 

He slid down off his high point, shooting another Prowler that came at him. All the shooting was finally scaring off the others - most had turned to run, just one more hesitating at the sight of Crypto on the ground and Mirage took it down without mercy. 

Crypto still wasn’t getting up as Mirage ran over to him. This was all his fault, if he’d just stayed and not gone running out like a goddamn idiot - 

“Crypto! Crypto?” 

Mirage slid over to him on his knees, reached for him to give him a good shake and then stopped cold. 

The Prowler that got him had clawed the shit out of his shoulder, straight through his leather jacket. It looked… pretty torn up. Fuck. 

Okay, okay. He just uh… had to remember his training! That he didn’t have. 

He did what he knew how to do - gently rolled Crypto onto his back as much as possible and hit him with a shot of adrenaline. That was what you were supposed to do when a fellow Legend got downed, he could do that. 

… Aaaand the kid’s breathing picked up a little but he didn’t… he didn’t open his eyes. Didn’t get up like they usually did and _Mirage wasn’t freaking out, he wasn’t freaking out at all._

Okay. One thing at a time, they needed to get back to safety. He didn’t make it as a Legend this long to lose his cool. 

He gingerly picked Crypto up, draped him over his back and carried him back to the Fragment like that. It wasn’t even that difficult; kid was kinda light. 

He deposited Crypto upstairs, gingerly on his uninjured side before checking him and then heading down to barricade the door again. They really, really didn’t need to get jumped again. 

Then he ran back up the stairs, hurriedly fumbling for a medkit and then dumping the entire contents out onto the floor. 

Usually they just used the syringes out of the kits - they didn't have much time to get fussy in the middle of a match, and they all got prompt medical care afterward, so usually it was ‘take a syringe and suck it up.’

But in those medkits there were also bandages, gauze, burn treatment, those little scissors that were apparently used for something… a bunch of other stuff Mirage didn't know what to do with… um….

He really wished they'd been doing trios and they'd been teamed with Che again. She'd know what to do. 

But okay, okay. What did _he_ know how to do? 

Syringe first. He pressed it to Crypto's wrist and held it for the requisite time; couldn't hurt, though he was pretty sure those were only supposed to take the edge off. 

Okay next, stop the bleeding, probably good. Mirage unclipped Crypto's pack and pried it off, working on his ripped up jacket next. Kid was wearing so many goddamn layers, with weird tech interwoven with his clothes and it made it all very difficult to pry off. _Definitely_ didn't get much sex - whoa okay wrong thing to be thinking. 

He got Crypto down to an undershirt he could navigate around anyway, used some of their bottled water to wipe away blood, then pressed some dry gauze to the deep gashes and leaned into it, trying to get it to stop. 

Kid didn't make even the tiniest sound for any of it, which was honestly freaking him out. He kept expecting Crypto to sit up and slap him silly for just touching him. 

He didn’t, though, and eventually Mirage got the bleeding down enough that he felt good wrapping it all up in gauze and then a bandage, that helpfully stuck to itself somehow cuz he definitely didn’t know how to tie it or whatever. 

Then he just… gently picked Crypto up off the floor and settled him onto the little cubby-bed again, tossing a thin shock blanket thing from the medkit over him and then his leather jacket. 

Super weird he was totally out of it, though. It hit Mirage then he’d probably smacked his head on something, and he leaned over the kid to feel through his hair, which - ok a little weird but it was for reasons. And yea there was like… a bump… but he’d be okay, right? It wasn’t like there was much Mirage could do… about it… 

He slumped down on the floor near the little bed, defeated. This was one-hundred percent his fault. He hadn’t listened, Crypto had told him it was stupid to go running around for loot, he’d just wanted… 

Fuck. Stupid, stupid, stupid, idiot. 

They just. Had to wait for rescue. Mirage could at least protect him until the Syndicate came back for them. He could do that! Easy… 

He didn’t end up hearing any more prowlers for the rest of the day, though. It was quiet - seemed like the shooting had scared the rest of them off. So Mirage alternated between checking on Crypto, pacing, and going to the roof for some target practice. And Maybe kinda hoping the sound of more shooting kept the prowlers away a little longer. 

But mostly checking on Crypto. Like every few seconds. ‘Cuz he was so quiet and seemed really small, suddenly. 

Aaaand by the time it started to get dark, Mirage had to accept the Syndicate wasn’t gonna come for them that day. Were they gonna come back at all? He was really starting to wonder what had happened, but… he couldn’t dwell on it. Totally out of his control. 

He ended up falling asleep on the floor by Crypto’s little cubby, wanting to be close in case he woke up or got worse or… whatever. 

-

Honestly, Crypto was surprised to wake up again, once that initial haze passed and he remembered what happened. Mirage must have miraculously pulled off some kind of escape, because they were back at the fragment. 

He groaned softly; his head ached. His shoulder too; he shifted a little to take some of the weight off it and _oh_ \- that sent a fresh jolt of pain down his spine like an electric shock. 

He fumbled for his pack, for a syringe, and instead his hand hit Mirage's shoulder. 

Oh. The other Legend was just asleep right there, on the floor next to him. 

"Witt." Crypto hissed, giving his shoulder another poke. 

He flinched when Mirage legitimately jumped, not expecting him to startle awake like that. 

“Wha - Crypto! Hey, hey - you’re not dead, that’s, uh. Great!” Mirage babbled just as soon as he got his bearings. 

He was trying to cover legitimate concern, badly. It would have been endearing if it wasn’t so stupid. 

“Hand me a syringe?” Crypto gestured to his pack on the floor, injecting as much annoyance into his tone as possible. This was Mirage’s fault, after all. Even if he had managed to save them both. 

“Oh yeah - right. Here.” 

Crypto took it without a word, breathing a little easier as it dulled the pain to a manageable ache. 

“Is that - is that better?” Mirage asked, unable to keep his mouth shut. “I - you were really out of it, and I was kinda afraid- I mean it was all my fault, and-”

Crypto shot him a ‘please stop talking’ look, and surprisingly enough, he did. “You should have been more careful.” He snapped, admittedly pleased when Mirage looked scolded. “... But you did get us out of there. Thank you.” 

He glanced down briefly so he wouldn’t have to see Mirage’s face for that, running his hand lightly over his bandaged shoulder. “Did you do this…?” 

“Yeah, I - yeah. Looked pretty gnarly, so…” 

“So they didn’t come for us.” Great. Still on their own, then. 

He tried to sit up, but the movement made his head spin, and he ended up falling back onto the deflated pillow with a little hiss. Which for some reason made Mirage jolt closer, and Crypto shot him another warning look. 

“Hey don’t - you gotta chill for a bit, you want some water? Here-” 

Mirage didn’t even let him answer before he was offering him the bottle, and Crypto just gave up and took it. Whatever. 

“I’ve also got some, uh - food?” Mirage hesitated on that word - “From the vending machines, might be a little expired…”

“Absolutely not.” 

The rest of their day went pretty much like that - with Mirage hovering unnecessarily and annoyingly, when Crypto wasn't outright asleep. Maybe even while he was. 

Crypto let him, partially because he could do nothing but lay there and accept it anyway, and partially because the fool actually did seem to feel bad, and maybe he'd learned a little something about recklessness. 

Maybe. 

It was becoming increasingly worrying that the Syndicate hadn't come back for them, though. It had been days, and it seemed like neither of them wanted to talk about it. 

They stayed at the fragment one more night. The following morning, Crypto pried himself up against Mirage’s protestations to move around a little, and spotted a problem brewing outside once again. 

“There’s more of them today.” He whispered as Mirage joined him at the window. There were more prowlers hanging around the outskirts of the fragment, just starting to curiously make their way into the city. Still cautious, but growing bolder. “I think we should leave. It’s not safe here.”

“And go where…?” 

Mirage sounded almost irritated - Crypto would have thought he’d be ecstatic to leave. 

“... What about your stupid party boat?” Surely Mirage would _love_ that suggestion. “It’s safe from prowlers, it has its own power…”

And sure enough, the other Legend lit up. “Oh yeah, the Voy’age! Great idea, it’ll be like... bein’ on a little vacation.”

"... Alright then. We can get there through the train yard tunnel, might be safest to follow the tracks…” 

Mirage was watching him as he pulled his torn clothes back on, which was kind of annoying. It was difficult enough when he couldn’t raise his arm, let alone with Witt staring at him. 

“Do you want some he-”

“I got it.” 

Mirage was smart for once and backed off, heading downstairs to move their barriers as Crypto took another syringe and got his pack on. The strap hurt, but he needed it to navigate the arena and not fall to his death on a misstep. 

He scouted ahead with his drone before they set off toward the tracks, hopefully in the opposite direction of any prowlers. 

Witt as usual took the lead, though Crypto caught him regularly looking back to make sure he was keeping up. He _could_ keep up; he didn’t need Mirage of all people to baby him. 

When they reached the train tracks, Crypto was surprised to step up and feel that subtle vibration through the soles of his boots - they were still energized; the train was still running. He and Mirage shared a look - it seemed only Apex Games tech was down, and Crypto was beginning to fear a coordinated attack. 

“So… that’s weird.” Mirage said, unable to keep from voicing what they were both already thinking. “Oh, hey - “ He swatted Crypto on the arm, earning a hiss. It wasn’t his bad arm, but still. The other Legend was his exact opposite on the side of ‘touchy about everything’. “Look, Train’s comin’.”

So it was. "Hop on." Crypto said as he stepped across to the other side. It would cut their transit time down to ride the train past the yard, and plus… he wouldn't have to walk. His pack was killing him. 

They jumped on as the train streamed by, both practiced at it by then. The supply bins were already open, still looted from the match they'd won. No Syndicate to restock the loot. 

Mirage seemed determined to run the length of the train and check anyway, so Crypto left him to it, sitting down in the front car to lean against the side for a minute. Just a minute - even that short walk from the fragment had tired him. 

-

Mirage checked, but the train had already been looted, damn. He wasn't sure what he'd expected, but… a gold backpack would have been nice, given the circumstances. Or y'know, a gold hemlok. 

He didn't see Crypto at first when he got back to the front of the train, then nearly had a heart attack at thirty when he saw the kid slumped against the side of the train car. 

He seemed okay when Mirage hurriedly knelt to check him out, though. Just asleep. They hadn't even done that much walking and Mirage could tell it was rough on him. 

And, y'know. He deserved to nap for a few minutes until they had to jump off by the Voy'age. Mirage could keep an eye on things. 

He quietly left Crypto there and walked back to the second car, leaning out so he could watch the arena pass by, some snow kicking their way from the epicenter. It really was strange; the whole thing seemed so much bigger when it was just the two of them. And no ring. 

All too soon it was almost time to go, though. There was his ship in the distance, and they were nearing the point where the track curved away. Their stop. 

"Hey." He said softly as he knelt by Crypto again, trying not to touch him. He hated that, and Mirage forgot that a lot. 

Luckily that was enough to rouse him, a cute little frown wrinkling his brow when he realized he'd fallen asleep, heh. "Wakey wakey, we gotta go." 

"... Right. _Gaja_." Crypto said, getting up like he expected Mirage to know what that meant. Move it, probably. 

Together they leaped off the train at the point where the track curved away, hiking up toward the hovercraft kinda slow. Crypto was lagging behind a bit; Mirage had to stop and wait for him. 

Crypto seemed annoyed when Mirage made it to the nearest zip and waited for him, letting him go first. But he did go first, Mirage landing on the ship a moment after him. 

"Turn off that music, please." Crypto murmured, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's making my headache worse." 

"Oh yeah - gimme a sec." He ran on up to the controls and shut most of the extra stuff off; the music, the holograms, all the flashing lights. Crypto looked relieved when he came back down, but also like… fuckin' tired, he just looked exhausted. 

"So! We've got ah, water, booze (really important), food and even a hot tub!" Mirage said brightly.

"Somewhere to sleep…?" 

"Yeah, down below." Big, lavish suite just for him, yeah. That usually wasn't accessible during the games 'cuz, y'know. "Uh, this way." 

Crypto scoffed at the painting on the wall and the… statue and probably everything else as they went down the stairs and then took the second staircase down to the private area. Yeah, so, it was a little much, but you had to do something with all that championship money, and he already had the bar…

Crypto seemed grateful to see the bedroom, though, not even commenting on the giant round bed with gold sheets and everything. Big M on the wall. Okay maybe he'd gone just a little overboard… 

He was bracing himself for a snarky comment, any time, when Crypto just…. swayed, on his feet, and Mirage jolted forward just in time to keep him from crashing to the floor. “Whoa whoa whoa - hey-”

Kid went limp in his arms, fuck - he really should not have been running around… “I got you-”

Crypto weakly tried to shove at him as he manhandled him onto the bed though, so, not dead yet. 

"Just rest, 'kay?" Mirage suggested as he helped him get his pack off again. Crypto mumbled something in his native language that Mirage totally didn't catch, but it sounded kind of like an agreement, so he went ahead and carefully maneuvered his jacket off, too.

After that the kid basically just passed out. Again. Mirage tucked the sheets around him and let him be, hovering for a bit before feeling confident enough he wouldn't die that he went up top to make food and do a little housekeeping. 

Food, that was definitely something he’d missed. Pork chops on the grill, baby. It was nice to cook again. 

He brought a plate down to Crypto when he was done, but… guy did not wanna be awake long enough for that, though Mirage got him to drink some water. He was starting to get worried, subtly touching his forehead when he was sure Crypto had gone back to sleep. He felt warm, maybe - Mirage figured he should probably have another look at his shoulder, maybe clean it up now that they had like, running water and shit. But he figured that could wait until tomorrow, he hated to wake him up again… 

Crypto had obviously claimed the bed, and he should, so that night Mirage gathered a bunch of cushions from one of the lounge areas and arranged them on the floor to sleep. It worked, he wasn’t gonna complain when Crypto was the one that nearly died because he had to be stupid. He could have the entire big huge bed, yep. 

Much better than the abandoned building in the fragment, anyway. And Mirage slept like a fucking baby. 

So much so he was kinda surprised to find Crypto still sleeping too, when he got up the next morning. Hadn’t the guy slept enough by then? 

“Hey.” Mirage shifted onto the bed, giving Crypto’s good shoulder a very cautious little shake. He expected to get smacked, but Crypto’s brow just furrowed a little. “Yoohoo, wakey wakey - “ He tried, and blessedly that got him a scowl as the other Legend’s eyes fluttered open. He still looked tired, why did he still look tired? A little pale maybe? Though, Mirage was pretty sure he was always like that. “Hey, sleeping beauty. Wanna get up for a minute so I can clean up your shoulder?”

Crypto gave him an exaggerated sigh, but he sat up with Mirage’s help, slapping his hands away when he tried to… keep helping. 

“ _Jungji_ \- I’ve got it.” Crypto hissed, and Mirage threw up his hands. Whatever, let the stubborn guy do his thing. 

He still hovered nervously as Crypto stripped off the rest of his battle gear, though, braving the sharp looks. 

“You feelin’ okay…?” Mirage asked, got another mildly deadly look. 

“No.” Crypto admitted a moment later though, sliding off the bed once he was down to his pants and an undershirt and staggering toward the restroom. Mirage trailed after him, hovering in the doorway in case he actually needed some privacy, but he just wanted to poke at his shoulder in the mirror. 

“Let me - “ Mirage offered when Crypto started to pick at the bandage. Surprisingly enough the other legend just kinda moved his hand away, let Mirage unwrap him. Instead he reached up to toss his hair back as Mirage worked, almost… bleary. He looked like shit. 

The scratches on his shoulder didn’t look particularly great either. The bandages were stained a patchy red and pink, and… yikes. Crypto hissed in pain as the gauze stuck - the skin was all mottled and puffy, kinda looked infected. Which was. Super not good. 

“Shit.” Crypto whispered for both of them, pinching his eyes shut. 

“Hang on, don’t panic, I’ll get it cleaned up - “ Mirage babbled in a tone he hoped was reassuring. ‘Cuz he totally knew what he was doing, this wasn’t his fault at all! Right. 

He hopped out to grab more supplies and another syringe, ‘cuz Crypto was looking wobbly again, then gave it to him before grabbing a soon-to-be-ruined towel and some water to dab at those deep gashes with. 

Hopefully that was the right thing to do. Couldn’t hurt, right? Crypto didn’t tell him to stop, so… he just flinched a little every time the towel made contact. 

"... Still nothing from the Syndicate?" Crypto asked softly. Trying to distract himself as Mirage wrapped him back up. 

"Not that I can see. Been quiet." 

"We may consider leaving the arena. There are other settlements on this planet, my wound will require stitches…" 

"Yeah but, if we leave our trackers won't work anymore. And I think the only people that live nearby are Bloodhound's, uh… tribe? Spears and voodoo and stuff. I don’t think they do, like… modern medicine." 

Crypto made an exasperated little sound, finally swatting Mirage’s hand away as soon as he got the clean bandages secure. 

“Crypto? I’m sorry, this is all my fault-” Mirage mumbled as he followed the other Legend back to the lavish bed. “Um… you want anything to eat?” A headshake at that, “or okay, at least drink some water?”

Crypto took the bottle Mirage offered him, but he looked so damn miserable. Mirage wished the Syndicate would just show back up for them so Crypto wouldn’t have to sit there looking so miserable because of him. 

They didn't come, though. Still. Something bad was up, and he hated he couldn't do anything about it. 

It got worse later that night - Crypto got worse. He definitely had a fever when Mirage checked on him, but what freaked him out was how restless he was, yet totally out of it. He didn't even seem to realize Mirage was _there_ , just… tossed and turned and mumbled shit in Korean that Mirage couldn't understand. He didn't put up a fuss when Mirage checked his temperature or gently manhandled him to keep him off that shoulder. 'Cuz he kept rolling onto it even though it clearly hurt him. 

Mirage did _everything_ he could - tried to keep his temp down with cool water and a towel, syringes, dug through their last medkit for really anything. Changed bandages. Talked to him just in case. Or maybe that was mostly for him, 'cuz he was definitely getting scared as the night stretched into the early AM and… Crypto just got really quiet and quit tossing and turning and honestly that was a lot scarier. 

There was a really gut-wrenching hour there where he was actually afraid Crypto was gonna die, all because he had to show off, be stupid. 

But then it seemed like maybe his fever was going down. It felt just like wishful thinking at first, but… no, it was. So Mirage kept it up with the cool water and the constant checking, and he really did seem to be sleeping easier. 

Which… sounded really good, actually, 'cuz Mirage hadn't slept at all. 

By the time Mirage actually felt comfortable enough to nap for a few minutes, the sun was coming up on the upper deck. He stripped out of his gear and took the other side of the bed across from Crypto - it was huge, and… he wanted to be close enough to hear him if he needed him. 

He was just gonna close his eyes for a few minutes, anyway…

-

It took Crypto a few minutes to even figure out where he was, when he was finally conscious enough to even wonder; despite apparently being out of it for a while, he felt exhausted, like he'd just run across the arena a few times. 

Yet again it seemed he was lucky to wake up alive. He didn't remember much, but… there were… snippets. Cool fingers against his cheek; too cool, he'd been burning up. Witt's panicked tone, though he couldn't recall what was said. 

Witt. He was right there when Crypto turned his head, just an arm's length away, and without thinking Crypto reached for him, but only for a second. He'd never seen the other Legend dressed down like that - just in a baggy T-shirt. He didn't hang out with anyone outside the arena, like the others. Though they all spent a lot of time on the drop ship, he'd still never…

"Mirage?" He murmured, mortified by how it came out as a hoarse whisper. Witt didn't even stir. It was almost cute, his face half turned into the pillow. 

Hm.

"Witt." He huffed, swatting at him. 

Mirage startled him by jolting up with a little gasp. "-Crypto! Hey - I - I wasn't sleeping, I was just resting my eyes -" he babbled it so fast it almost didn't sound like English. "Oh good, you're awake, I was really starting to w- h-how are you, how do you feel?" 

"... Like shit." He admitted in a little huff, when he’d caught up with the incessant babbling. “Do you have any -” Mirage was helping him sit up with a hand flat against his back before he could even finish the sentence, dropping a bottle into his hands. “... water.” 

“... _gomawo.”_ he murmured as Mirage continued to hover, touching his forehead. Crypto tried not to flinch away - he was just worried; it didn't take a genius to figure that out. 

"You look better." Mirage laughed nervously, the nonchalance entirely unconvincing. "You uh, were kinda lookin' like death for a bit there." 

He did that nervous little laugh again, and Crypto just had to eye him. He looked so tired. 

"Let me, uh - lemme take care of ya, 'kay?" 

Mirage didn't even wait for a response before he was touching him again, making sure he could sit up on his own before starting to unwind the bandages on his shoulder. And for some inexplicable reason, Crypto let him. Maybe he was just that exhausted, but… 

It had also been a very long time since anyone had touched him without the intent to do him harm. It wasn’t _entirely_ unwelcome. 

Next to him, Mirage let out a little sigh of relief. “That’s looking a little better, actually - gimme a sec, I’m gonna grab a clean towel.” 

Those deep scratches did look a little less… inflamed, at least. Crypto reached up to touch the edge of one gingerly; it still hurt, and his arm had stiffened up pretty bad. But he could think straight, so. 

Mirage was back a second later, and there was just something about him that seemed… shaken, his hands trembling a little as he gently and meticulously cleaned up around his wound again. His other hand hovered at Crypto’s back as if to steady him, but it was more like… he just wanted to have some kind of contact with him. 

“... Crypto?” His tone dripped with concern - Crypto hadn’t meant to be so quiet, he was just… thinking. 

He sighed, that uneasy feeling settling in his gut as he weighed his next words. He shouldn’t let his guard down, and every instinct screamed at him to keep his mouth shut, but. “... Tae Joon.” 

“... Huh? What’s - what’s that mean?” 

“My _name_ , you idiot. It’s Tae Joon. But you tell anyone else? And I’ll kill you.” 

Mirage made a surprised little ‘oh’ sound, for once apparently speechless. 

“Tae… Joon? You uh… you want me to call you that…?” He sounded almost flustered. 

Crypto rolled his eyes - his pronunciation was terrible. “... Whatever. It just doesn’t leave this ship.” 

Mirage just nodded, hurriedly going to wrap up his shoulder again. Embarrassed? Hah. 

The other Legend gave him space, after that, at least. Though he did still have an annoying tendency to hover. 

Still there was nothing from the Syndicate, and they weren’t allowed personal communication devices during matches, so no news from the outside, either. 

Crypto was beginning to think the whole thing was about him, and Mirage simply got caught up in it. Had the Syndicate found him out, abandoned him there purposefully? If they wanted him dead, there were easier ways to do it… and why sacrifice another (very popular, as much as he hated to admit it) Legend as collateral? 

No, it didn’t make sense. But he couldn’t help but worry. 

“Hey, so…” Mirage was checking on him again as the sun went down, or rather babying him. It was a little unnecessary, at that point - Crypto ate earlier and was overall feeling a lot better. He could handle it, but Mirage soldiered on regardless. “What is this…?” Mirage’s fingers trailed lightly across the back of his neck, the edge of his implants. He tried not to shiver. “Does it like… come off?” 

“No.” Crypto hissed, reaching back to gently swat his hand away. “They’re implants, they don’t come off.”

“...Oh. Huh.” 

Crypto could hear the curiosity, the no doubt mountain of other invasive questions hanging on his tongue. 

“I’m a wanted man, Witt. This helps me keep under the radar.” He explained before Mirage could get there. “And it enables the neurolink to my drone.” 

“Wait, so, that’s connected to like - your brain?” 

“Ya.” 

“So… could you feel that? When I to-” 

Crypto shot him a nearly deadly look, though to the fool’s credit there was nothing but a sort of awed curiosity in his tone. “Yes, but not how you think. Don’t do it again.”

Mirage made a little ‘I surrender’ gesture, finishing with the edge of his bandage before moving away. He’d made himself like… a ‘nest’ of cushions on the floor, apparently where he’d been sleeping. 

Crypto only watched him try to straighten it up for a few seconds. “... You can sleep on the bed, you know. It’s pretty huge.” 

“Well… yeah I guess, I just - you know, I didn’t wanna…” Flustered again. “...Okay.”

Crypto rolled his eyes and scooted over - they had plenty of space, he didn’t need to be weird about it. 

Mirage climbed up onto the bed, stole a pillow, and after an annoyingly long process of finding a comfortable position he stilled, curled up around one of the spare cushions from the floor. 

Whatever. Crypto had about one option of how to sleep that kept him off his sore shoulder, facing away from Mirage, so that was how he settled. It didn't take much for him to fall asleep again - he was still fairly exhausted. 

He was somewhat rudely awakened a few hours later, by the feeling of someone touching him. It was just Witt, of course, though Crypto hadn't expected him to still be asleep. He'd assumed Mirage was just checking on him, but apparently he'd rolled closer while still passed out and (while dead asleep) decided he'd trade clinging to the cushion for clinging to Crypto, gripping a handful of his undershirt.

"... Witt." Crypto hissed, shoving at him. Which absolutely did not rouse him and actually kinda made him cling more. Of course. 

He could feel his face heating a bit as he contemplated what to do. His first instinct was to kick at the Legend until he startled awake, then banish him back to the floor. 

But… that seemed cruel, when Mirage had presumably watched over him all of the previous night and not slept at all. 

So, whatever. Everything that was happening in the abandoned arena felt like it was happening outside of reality, anyway. Like they'd wake up and suddenly none of it will have been real. Essentially the truth, if the Syndicate ever returned for them.

So he let it go, and was awakened again in the morning by Mirage moving away from him, mumbling hurried apologizes when he realized Crypto was awake and had caught him. 

Crypto blew him off, finally feeling well enough to wander to the upper decks by himself and get some coffee. He took his drone and the remote with him, flying it around a bit as he nursed his drink. 

There wasn’t much to see, though. There were still prowlers around, seemingly moving in packs. It also seemed they avoided the general area around the planet harvester, which was interesting but ultimately not useful to them. And still no sign of Syndicate activity or rescue, and it had been… what, a week? Deeply strange. 

“Anything?” Mirage asked as he joined him, and Crypto just shook his head. “No. Though I can’t imagine we’ll be forgotten for much longer - you’re at least pretty famous. Someone will come looking, if not the Syndicate.” 

“I guess - and hey, you’re pretty famous too you know, Legend and all that?” 

Crypto just shrugged. Well, with one shoulder. "I couldn't care less. I didn't come here for fame." 

Mirage let it drop, and they spent the rest of the day milling around the ship. Mirage got bored and took a few potshots at faraway prowlers, which Crypto nearly slapped him for. They didn’t need to be wasting ammo and getting the creatures riled up. 

Mirage cooked dinner. Crypto had to admit, he was a capable cook, which… surprised him. Mirage continued to do that… surprise him. 

That evening he spent some time on deck watching the Talosian sun go down. The arena seemed so alien, at night, and it was almost beautiful. 

He didn’t actually feel much like sleeping - on a normal day, he was something of an insomniac, but Mirage was doing that thing where he hovered again, so Crypto curled up on the bed with his drone’s remote so he wouldn’t get nagged. 

He glanced back when he realized Mirage was setting up his spot on the floor again, though. “... You can sleep up here, don’t be a baby.” 

“Uh… really? I uh, I tend to roll around a lot, you know-” 

“It’s fine. Get up here, don’t sleep on the floor like an idiot.” 

“‘Kay, I’m not!”

Mirage took his place on the bed again, once again putting a respectable distance between them as he settled. 

And then fell dead asleep after only a few minutes (honestly, a talent…) and almost immediately rolled into Crypto again. Crypto was figuring out that was… just how he was, when he slept. 

And it wasn’t… unwanted.

Mirage ended up just practically plastered to his back, and Crypto didn’t bother to correct him. Just fiddled with his remote until he finally started to get tired, tried not to think about it at all, and fell asleep like that. 

-

_Cute._

That was Mirage’s first thought in the morning, when he woke up and realized Crypto - Tae Joon was still sleeping, laying on his side with the little remote puzzle thingy still in his hands. 

He was kinda terrified to move, though. He didn’t uh… didn’t wanna wake him. He hadn’t like, _meant_ to, but… he’d woken up basically holding him, an arm tossed across his waist. 

It was really, really comfortable though. Crypto seemed a lot smaller stripped of his jacket and tucked in Mirage’s arms - he probably needed to eat more, actually, and Mirage liked to cook - 

Ugh, he kept having those little trains of thought like - like this was gonna last forever. Liiike Crypto wasn’t gonna wake up and shove him away. 

Ughhhh, he had to move at some point though. Make Crypto breakfast? He had to be hungry, still. 

He tried to get up without rousing Crypto, he _really_ did, but the man slept so lightly; the moment Mirage moved his arm he stirred, doing that cute little thing where his brow furrowed before he blinked. 

“Heyyyy, ‘mornin’.” He tried to like… say… casually as he drew back, expecting to get smacked. But Crypto just sat up and rubbed at his face, his fingers trailing across the edges of his face-thingy. Implants. He really… he really didn’t mind then, huh? "... Hungry?" 

Crypto just nodded blearily, sliding off the bed in the direction of the restroom, so Mirage let him be to head up top and start some bacon. 

He figured Crypto would want coffee, too, so before even starting the bacon he made a cup and set it out for him, and was validated a few minutes later when the man made his way to the upper deck and immediately picked it up with a grateful little sound. 

Mirage wanted… he wanted to say something, as he watched Crypto sip at his coffee. Ask him what… they were doing. And not just about getting off Talos. There was something else…. settling? Between them and he… kinda wanted to keep doing it, maybe. 

Crypto had told him his _name,_ what was that about? Because he’d almost died?

“... What?” Crypto hissed suddenly, catching him staring. 

“Nothin’.” Mirage grinned, playing it off - he was good at that. Crypto just rolled his eyes, but Mirage caught the edge of a smirk as he went back to his coffee. 

The rest of the day went… pretty much like that. They didn’t have a hell of a lot to do besides mill around the ship and… try to talk. Mirage did a lot of talking; Crypto just listened. Whenever Mirage tried to get him to contribute something, he just got quiet. That was just Crypto, but again Mirage had been hoping… maybe? He’d get a little more? He was a big enough man to admit he’d had a huge crush on the hacker since he first joined the games, and up until now it’d been fairly harmless. But being alone with him for so long was killing him, not to mention he’d… 

Well, he’d almost lost him, and that kinda. Made him think about what they _could_ … 

Mirage was still thinkin’ about it when they got ready for bed, claiming his spot first and waiting for Crypto, purposefully stealing all the pillows. 

When Crypto crawled near to yank one away from him, he just… did what he’d been thinkin’ about all night and held out an arm, wordlessly inviting Crypto - Tae Joon close instead. 

And man, did he hesitate, got that very fight-or-flight look on his face that he sometimes had in the middle of a legit firefight when he was weighing his options between shooting or running for cover. 

Mirage completely expected him to flee, was already preparing himself for the inevitable stab of hurt.  
  
Right up until Crypto finally moved, closer, tucked himself in Mirage’s arms with a little sigh that just… he could swear his heart stopped for a second. 

He let his arm fall across Crypto’s waist, glad the man couldn’t see his stupid grin. He didn’t wanna push his luck any further. “... ‘night, Tae Joon.”

Okay, maybe a little. Crypto just let out a soft little ‘mm’ sound in affirmation, sounding tired. Hopefully he’d get some more sleep… 

-

_I shouldn't be doing this._

Crypto knew it, and yet he'd crawled into Mirage's arms last night anyway. Because he was weak. Because he would have to remind himself that _everyone_ was dangerous again and again until the lesson stuck. 

And he tried to call Mirage _stupid._

This would only be a liability. He'd given Mirage his name, if only partially, and it wouldn't be difficult to search once they were back in the real world. Mirage would know, and he could only trust the other Legend wouldn't turn him over to the syndicate once he put the pieces together. 

He _wanted_ to trust Mirage. That was what made him weak, made him slip up. He still _wanted_ what he couldn't afford. No attachments - he was on the run, and as soon as he had what needed from the games… he would keep running. 

So, he couldn’t let this go any further. Or rather, he _could,_ but to a calculated length. Mirage had a reputation as a flirt, with anyone and everyone; Crypto wasn’t special. Once Mirage got what he wanted out of him, he’d move on. 

So, that was it. 

-

Mirage was a little surprised when he woke up by himself - how had Crypto gotten away without waking him?

But then again, the guy could be damn silent when he wanted to. It was a huge pain in the ass in the arena, when they weren’t on the same squad. Mirage preferred when they were on the same squad, definitely. Crypto was a sick shot with the kraber and half the time when Mirage randomly got nailed… 

Mirage pulled himself up and found Crypto on the upper deck, not like there was anywhere else he’d be. Drinking coffee. The man seemed to run on coffee, so hopefully their supply wouldn’t run out any time soon. 

“I’ve been thinking.” Crypto said as they settled at the counter together, and Mirage stood up a little straighter. 

“... Bloodhound’s people, they wouldn't have any way to contact the Syndicate, would they?” 

Oh. He was just still thinking about getting off Talos. Right. Couldn’t have been anything else… 

“Uh, don’t think so. They’re tech - techo - techna - _they hate technology_.”

“Mm.” Was Crypto’s only response as he went back to his coffee. Conversation over, right. 

“... There might be abandoned communication gear at sites like the Survey Camp.” Mirage suggested after a stretch of silence. “Or one of those IMC places. Might be worth looking for.” 

Crypto’s gaze moved back to him, surprise there. Yeah, he had good ideas sometimes. 

“... Might be.” Crypto murmured, unconsciously touching his bandaged shoulder. He was afraid to go out too far from the ship and get hurt again, but he’d never like… say that. “... We should start thinking about that if this goes on much longer.”

But not yet. Mirage didn’t wanna shatter this yet, either. Whatever ‘this’ was. 

That night Mirage did exactly the same thing he’d done the previous - settled in place first, then just… invited Tae Joon to join him with a look. Only this time Crypto didn’t get that freaked out I’m-gonna-make-a-run-for-it expression. Instead he hesitated in a different way, more… calculated. Mirage could practically see the wheels in his head turning. 

… And then he did literally the most unexpected thing - Mirage honestly expected to get _hit_ more than he’d expected - 

Crypto crawled over to him on the bed, leaned over him to press his shoulders back and straddled his waist all in one fluid movement that honestly left Mirage’s head spinning. _What._

“... What is it you want from me, Witt?” Crypto hissed, only a few scant inches from his face. 

_Hot_ was all Mirage could think, like an absolute fucking idiot. 

“Is this what you wanted?” Crypto continued, a little smirk on those very kissable lips. Like okay, yeah, maybe a little! 

"I - I mean I - yeah, maybe." Smooth. Crypto was absolutely nailing him with that knowing smirk though, and it made it hard to form words. 

Not that he was ever great at that. 

Crypto made it easy for him, though, leaning closer and just… insistently pressing their lips together. 

And ah, yep, those lips were _just_ as soft and kissable as he'd imagined. Just as soon as he had that unspoken permission his hands were all over the other Legend; okay, maybe he'd been dying for that, just a little. More than a little. 

It was still so surprising when Crypto just _let_ him run his hands over his skin, beneath the thin undershirt he was wearing. Mirage cautiously avoided his bandaged arm - he was still kinda holding it funny, not quite touching Mirage with that hand. It hurt him, still. 

He was hesitant when he trailed up to Crypto’s neck, too, over the cool metal of his implants. Crypto shivered when Mirage ran a thumb across his jaw, drawing back a little, and ah - that was cute. 

“So, uh…” Mirage mumbled when they’d parted enough to speak, only for Crypto to place a finger delicately on his lips. Fuck, the guy knew just how to get to him - 

“Quiet - you’ll get what you want.”

Crypto did that thing where his eyes darted away for a second, then, like he was constantly watching his own back. “... If this _is_ what you want?”

Aw, that little crack in his confidence was so - cute. 

“Yeah babe; whatever you’ll give me.” Mirage shot back, treating him to a cheesy grin. 

That got him a scowl, which just made Mirage grin wider. Again, he half expected Crypto to push him away, but… 

He didn’t. Instead he slid his hand under Mirage’s loose shirt, guiding it up until he got the idea and wriggled out of it. 

Aaand then those sinful lips were on him again, trailing overly mouthy kisses down his chest. And oho, did he really hope those lips were going where he thought they were. If he was dreaming, he didn’t wanna wake up anyyyy time soon. 

He slid his hand into Crypto’s hair, then down to thumb the edge of the implant around his ear. That got _such_ a delicious little reaction out of him, a little shiver every time. 

Kid was not wasting any time, though - he plucked at the waistband of Mirage’s shorts, encouraging him to shift his hips and then pulled them off. 

Or, well, down just enough to get to his dick. Then the kid was taking him into his mouth like it was his job, and ohhhh my god. As if those lips could get any more talented. “Fuuuck, Crypto…” Mirage groaned, and that earned him a little sound in the back of Crypto’s throat as he sucked him. 

Mirage’s hand went back to his hair, giving it an experimental little tug. Not enough to hurt, but enough to get Crypto to give his thigh a warning squeeze, his gaze flicking up. 

Cute. So, so fucking cute. 

He was _good_ , too, expertly keeping Mirage just on the edge of what he needed, drawing desperate little sounds out of him as he continued, drew back and passed his tongue over the head of Mirage’s cock with the most _sinful_ goddamn look… 

“Tae… Tae Joon….” Mirage whispered as he felt himself getting close, something else flicking behind Crypto’s eyes at that. 

He drew back just as Mirage came, just in time to mostly avoid getting cum on his face. He thumbed a bit off his chin almost dismissively, then reached for the sheets to wipe his finger clean. Though, he did lick at his lips, and that was… phew, _something._ Mirage was gonna have a heart attack at thirty over this shit.  
  
“Wow I… wow. Do you, uh-” 

“I’m not done with you yet.” 

_God._ Who the fuck was that and where was Crypto? Mirage could barely keep it together as the other Legend stripped out of his own clothes, sliding off the bed to go fetch the lube from the bathroom because yep apparently he knew that was there, came back with it in like two seconds. 

Then Crypto was leaning in for another kiss, his fingers tracing the scruff just under Mirage’s jaw in a way that just… fucking, melted him. 

And he just _didn’t stop_ , worked himself open with his fingers while Mirage watched almost slack-jawed and then lowered himself onto Mirage’s cock like that was just a thing they were always doing. And maybe because he’d been so composed thus far it was really beautiful when he started to lose himself to that; the way his expression changed, slackened with pleasure. The way his movements became a little more frantic, desperate and less calculated overall. 

He didn’t even pull away when Mirage came, just … lost himself at about the same time and collapsed on top of him, letting Mirage gather him closer and gently pull out at the same time, kiss his cool jaw. 

“Wow.” Mirage whispered softly, again, just… in awe. Crypto just huffed softly, burying his face against Mirage’s neck and _wow_ , he’d take it. They could figure out the rest in the morning, ‘cuz at that moment Mirage just wanted to bask in it, keep Tae Joon in his arms. 

He pulled the now probably filthy sheets up over them, covering Crypto’s thin shoulders. His hand passed over the bandage on his bad shoulder once, delicately enough not to bother him - it probably needed changed, but. They were pretty comfortable, and Crypto didn’t seem eager to move, so. Tomorrow. 

Tomorrow. 

-

There was a pleasant all-over ache suffusing him when Crypto woke up, and not just in his stiff shoulder. 

It… felt really good, actually, not to mention the feeling of Mirage pressed to his back, wrapped around him in every feasible manner. 

He caught himself wanting that to stay, again, and it just - it wasn’t fair. When would he learn that there was nothing like this left for a man like him? 

… Probably not until he was the one that ended up dead.

Quietly he pried himself out of Mirage’s arms, trying not to wake him. He couldn’t pull the other Legend down with him - could only hope he hadn’t done so already, if that’s what this arena glitch was. 

Unfortunately Mirage stirred when Crypto shifted off the bed, blinking up at him.

"Hey." Mirage murmured sleepily, flashing another one of those sideways grins. 

Mirage reached for him, but Crypto was already getting up to grab his clothes off the floor, and he caught the little flicker of confusion in the other Legend's expression as he moved away. 

Hm. 

Crypto threw on the bare minimum, shorts and his undershirt before he headed up top for some coffee. 

He tried working the dispenser with his bad arm, wanting to keep it moving - it was still stiff and painful, and they were going to run out of syringes eventually. 

Mirage appeared behind him, though, and leaned over his shoulder to do it for him, apparently thinking he was struggling. Crypto huffed. 

"I don't need your help." He snapped softly, switching to his good hand. Mirage backed off, though he hovered like he wanted to say something, just kept getting tongue tied. 

"... You feelin' okay?" Mirage seemed to settle on. 

"Ya."

"You, uh… was - did -" 

Crypto sighed; he couldn't stand listening to him stammer, the uncertainty thick even in those scant few words. 

" _I_ don't regret last night, if that's what you're asking. But it's done, so if you expected more…" 

He looked hurt, openly, a soft little 'oh' leaving him. Crypto nearly had to bite his tongue; don't give in, he got what he wanted. Neither of them could afford any more, no matter how much he… 

"Well, I just thought… I guess, because…" 

"You thought… what?" Crypto murmured, a harsh edge hitting his tone. He had to… "We're Legends. Any day now we could end up killing each other, for good. It happens. _I_ have a reason for being here - do you?"

Mirage was silent, breaking eye contact, and honestly that felt more like a kick in the chest than anything he could have said. 

He'd just opened his mouth to say something more when they were both interrupted by a loud _POP_ of static, broadcasted across the arena at an ear shattering volume that had both of them scrambling to cover theirs. 

" - the hell?"

**"Round One - Beginning Ring Countdown."**

"Oh, hey - the announcer lady's back." Mirage said as he hesitantly uncovered his ears. "So, ship soon?"

"The ring announcements are pre-recorded-" Crypto knew, he'd worked on the system. "But if the ring really is active…" They had a problem.

He pulled up the map of World's Edge on his HUD, and it did give him a countdown for the round- but they wouldn't be able to tell if the ring was active until it began to close. 

"We're in the next ring, so… wait and see I guess?" Mirage shrugged. 

Crypto had _significantly_ more anxiety about the fact the ring might have come back on with no dropship to evac them and no way to escape it. "We should get ready to move. Pack everything, put our gear on - I don't want to be caught here if it is coming in." 

His sober tone seemed to get through; Mirage just nodded and followed him back down to the room at a jog, and quickly they gathered their things. Suited back up, checked their packs, got their guns. Didn't talk. 

Crypto's pack felt heavy, weighting painfully on his shoulder. But there was nothing he could do about it but grit his teeth and take another syringe before they headed back up. 

**"Warning - Ring Movement in Progress."**

"... Oh boy…" Mirage mumbled it before Crypto did - they could both see the red of the ring creeping onto the edges of the map. 

"Shit - we'll have to move." Unless the Voy'age happened to be in the final ring, which he doubted. And even then…

"But - okay, there's no one here but us, how do we end the match? The ring doesn't stop until - " 

"Until everyone's dead but the winner." 

And they had no evac, but also no competition. In theory the ring would keep shrinking until it encompassed the whole arena and killed them both. 

"Uh, Crypto? I'm showing as a one-man squad." 

Fuck. At another glance his card, too, showed him alone. "When the system reinitialized it must have matched us against each other, since we're the only combatants in range." 

"So…."

"So we can end the match if one of us is knocked out." Crypto confirmed.

"But… without the drop ship…" 

"The ring will kill us without evac regardless." 

"So… what, what do we do?" Mirage was eyeing him nervously, like he might decide to just pull his weapon and shoot him. 

Not without evac. Not when Crypto could potentially kill him, for real.

**"Round Two - Beginning Ring Countdown."**

"Rotate into the ring, for now." Crypto said. 

They headed down from the hovercraft on a zip, toward the next ring. It was heading back toward the Epicenter area, which was just… unfortunate, considering they’d have to go back through the area overrun by Prowlers, and then through the cold. 

And while he was doing a lot better than on their original jaunt to the Voy’age, Crypto was struggling. He couldn’t _quite_ keep up, and Mirage had to slow up to keep with him. He pretended like he didn’t have to, but they’d been on the same squad long enough to know each other better than that.

They only barely made it into the next ring, the edges of it kissing their asses the whole way, and then immediately had to keep moving as the next rotation appeared on their map. There was less ground to cover as it got smaller, and they made it in - just in time to run into a few prowlers. Taking them out wasted their time, but again - their next movement… wasn’t very far. 

“Uh… I’m startin’ to get nervous.” Mirage said when they’d gotten down to the point where all edges of the ring were clearly visible from where they stood, the energized hum intense around them. It was coming down to the wire in an unassuming spot near the Epicenter, around one of the massive ice spikes. “What’s… what’s the plan again…?” 

Crypto looked to him helplessly; he _should_ have had a plan. He should have been the one to get them out of there, come up with something, but he’d slipped. And Mirage shouldn't have to pay for _his_ mistakes. 

“... Shoot me. It’s the only thing you can do.”

“Sh- what? I’m not gonna _shoot_ you!”

The ring was closing again; Crypto could feel that steady hum in his bones as it narrowed to just a few meters wide, buzzing so loudly around them they nearly had to shout to each other. 

“It will end the game, just do it!”

“But there’s no - you won’t get picked up, I-” Mirage hadn’t even drawn his gun, and they were rapidly running out of time. Crypto whipped out his RE-45, holding it out to him by the barrel. “Do it, or it will kill both of us!”

“No! I-” 

Mirage took a half step back and nearly backed into the ring, and - fuck it. They couldn’t wait any longer. 

Crypto pulled the trigger himself. 

-

The ring stopped. That horrible, deafening hum disappeared instantly the moment Crypto went down. 

**"Attention: Winner Decided."**

_No-_

He'd lunged at Crypto when he saw that look on his face, but he was just a second of dawning realization too late. All he could do was fall to his knees by the other Legend and gather him off the ground. 

"Crypto? Tae?" 

_Nononono-_

The man was limp in his arms, but before Mirage could even begin to panic, suddenly the weight of the other Legend disappeared; transported away. 

A second later Mirage was on the drop ship, too, the other Legends swarming him in the loading bay. Wraith was the first to reach him, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Mirage!"

"Yooo, you're alive amigo!" 

"Welcome back bruddah!"

"Wha-" It was more than a little overwhelming, all the other Legends and the Syndicate personnel and medics all wanting a look at him. 

"Where's Crypto?" Mirage asked the nearest medic, trying to get his attention over the general rabble. 

It was Wraith who answered him, though. "Medbay. They transported him directly there, said he was down." 

"Is he okay?" Wraith would know. She always knew, and the medic was ignoring him anyway. 

He didn't like it when she hesitated, getting that kind of faraway look she had when she was… well, looking. But like… looking through the void, looking at all the possibilities. 

"... Dunno. If we stay on this road, maybe." 

Oh, God. That meant there _were_ roads where he didn't make it.

He must have looked as gut-punched as he felt, because Wraith pulled him close again, knowingly. That was just Wraith, she just… she knew things, even if you didn't say them. 

He got whisked away shortly after that, first by the medics to check him out then by Syndicate people asking him questions. They seemed really antsy to figure out what had happened; some kind of sabotage, apparently, and they suspected the same person who'd taken out the repulsor tower on King's Canyon.

Mirage was skeptical, not that he could tell anybody why but - he also didn't care. He just wanted to know where Crypto was.

Hassling the Syndicate people got him nowhere, but after a while he was able to get one of the medics to tell him Crypto was okay - he'd been sent back to his room to rest. 

Mirage was there just as fast as his legs could take him, knocking on the door. 

It took a solid minute, and it only opened a crack - but Crypto let him in once he saw who he was, sliding the door back closed immediately behind him. 

He looked okay. For nearly being dead he looked okay. ‘Course, the syndicate medics were like, miracle workers, picking them all up after brutal matches. 

“Hey, you uh… hey.” Mirage said weakly. 

Those deep gashes from the prowler had scarred up even after he got some fancy medicine. Crypto didn’t have a shirt on as he sat down on his bunk - apparently he’d just been getting settled, and they were… prominent. 

“What do you want, Witt?” Crypto said flatly - he was tired, Mirage could hear it in his tone. 

“Well, like, wanted to see you alive, first of all. Glad you are. Alive, that is.” Mirage said as he took a seat on the bunk next to Crypto. He looked irritated, but Mirage wasn’t buying it. 

“I am; they came back for us.” 

“Just barely - what the hell was that, Crypto? You could have died.”

Crypto shrugged a shoulder. “I didn’t.”

“But you could've…” 

“I made a decision, what does it matter?” 

“It _matters_ , Crypto - Tae Joon. You could have just as easily shot _me._ ”

Crypto’s gaze flicked away; caught. 

“And, you know, you would have been totally justified, we do like, play a bloodsport and try to kill each other daily, so…” 

“What’s your point?” Crypto snapped. 

“My _point_ is - my point. I - just, why are you pushing me away? You can’t just - you _started_ it, even.” 

“There’s no ‘it’. I thought we could pass the time, that’s all.”

“It’s really not, or you woulda shot me.”

“Just because I chose not to murder you-”

“At the cost of your own - !” Mirage cut himself off with a huff. “I … I honestly don’t get it, I don’t get you. I _want_ to.”

For just the barest second, Crypto’s carefully guarded expression crumbled, but only for a second. He was trying so _hard_ to pretend he didn’t care, and contrary to popular belief Mirage wasn’t stupid. It was the _why_ that he didn’t get. 

"There's nothing to _get_." Crypto said, after a second too long. "I'm sorry, I gave you the wrong impression." 

He stood up, then, going back to the door to release the lock. "I need you to leave." 

Mirage stayed seated, giving him a helpless look. “Tae Joon, c’mon…”

“ _Jungji_ \- don’t say that again on this ship, they may be watching. Now get out.”

They? Who the hell was ‘they’?

Crypto was giving him a look that said he wouldn’t ask again, though, so Mirage got up with a sigh. 

"... Okay." Mirage relented, letting Crypto usher him out the door. He let all the hurt come out in that one word, but… Crypto still just… pulled the door shut as soon as he was past the threshold. 

… Mirage wasn’t sure what to feel. Angry, partially, because Crypto led him on, but also… 

The guy clearly had some sort of baggage. And that was… sad, more than anything. 

It was announced the next day the Syndicate wouldn't be postponing the season, which they'd been considering after the sabotage. 

The games would continue, just… maybe with a little extra security. Wraith was pissed off - she seemed to think they should have waited, held off until they figured out what happened. And Wraith was usually right about stuff. 

But honestly… things seemed to go back to normal. They jumped back into the games and hit the ground running, though it seemed like everyone felt rusty after taking however long off. There hadn't been any more matches while Mirage and Crypto were missing, and it seemed like they all had to ease back into it. 

But they did, and nothing else seemed to go wrong. That they noticed, anyway. 

Crypto acted like nothing happened. That same edge still existed in their usual banter, but it was cold and impersonal as ever. Made for good TV and that was about it. Which… shouldn’t have hit Mirage as hard as it did, but. 

Then they got rotated to different squads and they didn't talk, anyway. Honestly mostly avoided each other - Crypto was slippery in the arena to begin with, and he was teamed with Wattson and Caustic, so they tended to just hole up. Honestly the three of them were the most annoying squad to deal with, and for the first couple matches after the team change Mirage didn't see them at all. 

He ran into Caustic a few times. But the first time he actually had to face Crypto - 

There were only three squads left, and the ring had narrowed to what was left of the Capitol City on World's Edge. Mirage's team had claimed one of the skyscrapers; Wraith was down below with Path and Mirage was on the roof with a triple take. He wasn't the greatest shot with a sniper, so… three bullets were better than one. 

He could hear the buzz of Crypto's drone, scouting them, which meant Crypto was holed up somewhere nearby piloting it. There were some of Wattson's fences set up in the adjacent building, and Mirage had a feeling… 

He had a high powered scope, started checking the windows of that other building. Crypto could be out of sight, but… he liked to keep an eye on his drone… 

Aaand there he was, just barely in view through one of the windows, crouched in a corner. Mirage centered the crosshairs on his head; he had a perfect shot, and Crypto was distracted by his HUD. 

His finger inched over the trigger; all he had to do was land it and Wraith and Path could move in. 

… Alllll he had to do was pull the trigger, but a sick feeling settled in his stomach as he tried. What if there was another glitch or sabotage or whatever and the drop ship didn't pick Crypto up? 

Mirage let his aim drift down, but as he did Crypto logged off his drone and abruptly looked in Mirage's direction; he'd seen him, he'd seen him with the drone, and immediately he ducked away from the window. 

Mirage missed his chance, and a moment later the sick _SNAP_ of a Kraber shot downed him in one hit. 

They lost. Wraith couldn't get to him fast enough and that was just about all of the match Mirage saw before he bled out and woke up on the drop ship. 

Stupid, though he hadn’t been expecting a win there anyway. At least Wraith and Path hadn’t seen what happened - they just assumed he got sniped out of nowhere. Which, yeah, he had, but still. 

What he didn’t expect was suddenly getting cornered by Crypto as he headed back to his room for the night. The guy appeared around the corner without a sound, grabbing Mirage and shoving him against the wall with an arm across his neck. 

Which… because Mirage was his own worst enemy, all he could think was _wow, hot._

“I saw what you did.” Crypto hissed, right in his face. “What happened?”

“What… what happened what?” Mirage stammered, because yea he panicked. 

“You know what I’m talking about. You had a shot on me today and you didn’t take it. Why?”

“I - uh, do you… do you wanna let go of me?” It was really hard to focus on actually forming words when Crypto was that close to his face. When Crypto’s very kissable lips were that close to his face. 

Crypto scowled and stepped back, giving him a little shove for good measure before letting his arm fall. Which was just cute, really, he just looked so annoyed - 

Wow, focus. 

“Well, I - y’know I thought - what if there was another glitch or something? Didn’t really wanna shoot you in the head and have that be that, you know?” 

Crypto blinked - that seemed to surprise him, for some reason. Really shouldn’t be a secret Mirage like, didn’t wanna kill him. At that point. Or really ever, ‘cuz they never _actually_ killed each other. 

“You don’t have a problem shooting the other legends.”

Well, okay. 

“Okay, maybe we should like - talk? inside?” Mirage gestured toward his room, which was like right there. He kinda expected Crypto to refuse, so it was a little surprising when he got a short nod. 

He let Crypto in, though the guy just kinda hovered awkwardly by the door after it closed. 

“So, like…” Crypto didn’t say anything, so Mirage just launched right in. He was good at that - talking. “I didn’t wanna shoot you ‘cuz I care about you. Like a lot. And I mean, I care about everybody else too and don’t want them like, **_dead_ ** dead, but like I really - I mean we - yeah.”

He kinda let himself trail off because Crypto was giving him this… look. Not _quite_ the ‘you’re literally the dumbest motherfucker’ look, but close. 

Troubled, was maybe the word. 

“And y’know contrary to what you might think I’m not really a casual sex kinda guy, I mean sometimes like, if it’s the right setting but like not - like that, so I thought -” 

“Stop - “ Crypto interrupted any more of his babbling, thankfully, because he wasn’t even sure where he was going with that. “I can’t - we just can’t, Mirage. You need to treat me like everyone else in the arena, or we’ll be accused of teaming. I - I have my reasons for being here, I can’t jeopardize that. It’s too important.”

Oh. 

“... I’m sorry.” Crypto’s gaze drifted down. “I’m sorry I gave you the wrong idea. I wrongly assumed… since you’re so famous... “ He shrugged a little. “That… you got a lot of that.” 

Literally he could not help a little chuckle at that, and it got him the cutest annoyed little look. 

“Hah, well, I mean - “

“Don’t.” 

Nope okay, lips sealed. 

As soon as that little levity passed, though, the hurt started to settle in, and Crypto must have seen it on his face. 

“... I wouldn’t have been… opposed.” The hacker whispered softly, which honestly - just felt like as much of a kick in the chest. “I just… as I said, I have my reasons for being here.”

“Yeah. I’ll uh - I’ll be more careful. In the arena.”

“... Thank you.”

Then of course Crypto had to glance down, hesitate, then lean in to kiss him out of nowhere. And because Mirage was a huge fucking idiot, he totally kissed him back. 

“... Keep it between us.” Crypto whispered when they parted, and then turned and let himself out of Mirage’s room. 

And Mirage was left there with his head spinning, trying to puzzle out what that _meant._ Just that one kiss, or…? Could they like? Do more of that? If they kept it a secret? 

He shouldn’t have been getting excited, Crypto clearly didn’t want any sort of commitment, but - he never claimed to be smart. Or rather, never claimed to use his head over his heart. ‘Cuz he _was_ smart, sometimes, had to remind himself. 

He knew though, when it came to Tae Joon, he was going to be very, very stupid.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks comments make me happy pls be gentle. also if I got any korean wrong please let me know I fix. If you enjoy my writing come watch me play Apex on twitch, I'm benigndirector and I talk about my writing all the time thanku


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